On which I write about the books I read, science, science fiction, fantasy, and anything else that I want to. Currently trying to read and comment upon every novel that has won the Hugo and International Fantasy awards.

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Thursday, June 18, 1970

Musical Artist - R.E.M.

If there is a band that I associate with my formative years, it is R.E.M. The quartet of Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry were in the midst of their rise to prominence on the college circuit when I was in high school, and their first few albums featuring alternative hits such as Radio Free Europe and Don't Go Back to Rockville flowed down into the halls of my boarding school. By the time I reached college, R.E.M. had broken into the mainstream with songs like It's the End of the World as We Know It and The One I Love, beginning their transformation from a quirky band that only played on college radio stations to the arena powerhouse they became in the 1990s. But while I was in college they were still "small" enough to play the college circuit, and when I was a student at the University of Virginia, after pulling an all-nighter the night before, and staying up all day, I was able to attend an R.E.M. concert in University Hall. Maybe it was because I was sleep deprived, maybe it was because R.E.M. was just that good and just that weird, but that concert was one of the most intense and surreal experiences of my life. I remember that 10,000 Maniacs opened for them, and I remember R.E.M. opening with The Finest Worksong and closing with Superman. or maybe they didn't. I don't remember much from that concert other than raw sensory impressions, but that was enough.

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